Thursday, January 26, 2012

DIY Thursday: Sweethearts

Today we have not 1 but 2 fun Valentine crafts for you!

First up, Trinity!

So back about a month ago, I was cruising along in the world of Pinterest and I saw this cute idea. It looked easy and simple and I had to do it. Especially since my Valentine decor is comprised of one thing. So here's what I did:

Go to the nearest Michael's and check out their wood block section. Grabbed 5 hearts, 3 small and 2 big (but you can do whatever sizes you would like). Pick out the colors of paints you want. I wanted mine to resemble the candies so I picked out some pastel colors.

Grabbed the cutest helpers ever =) And start painting!

(Look at him concentrating so hard)

(Of course she stops to pose a bit)

When you are finished with the hearts, draw your favorite sayings on them (or you could always use vinyl). I like the handwritten look (just wish my handwriting was better) and instead of using a brush to brush it on, I used the round end of the paintbrush and dotted it on to make it stand out a little bit. When the blocks are all dry (and you want it completely dry) brush a layer of modge podge over it to seal the paint and give it a nice finish. If it's not dry, the letters could smear.....and that wouldn't be too pretty. I had some glitter spray paint so I spray painted mine with a little bit of sparkle =)

(you can see it in a picture below)

(The green and purple are a lot lighter than this picture, the colors in the kids' pictures are the actual colors. The pink is also lighter and you can actually read the words)

Next, I grabbed some festive ribbon and some tulling and glued the ribbon onto the tulling. I wanted it to be a bit fuller than just a ribbon, but didn't want it to be the thick ribbon either.

Next, glue your hearts on. Figure out how close you want them to be and have at it =)

When I put it all together, it seemed like it was missing something so made a little bow out of the ribbon and then stuck a crystal heart in the middle.

This was a fun, easy project. I whipped it out in a couple hours, with most of that time spent waiting for the paint to dry. The kids loved being able to help with some decorations and my little boy keeps telling me, "The green one and the yellow one are mine. The purple one and pink one are sissy's. The white one is yours." (Those are the colors each of us painted)

Hey Friends, it's Teresa and I decided to crash Trinity's post and share another fun project with you!

I'm going to show you how I made this Super Fun Door Hanger!{Okay that is where I hung mine because I like to mix it up from all the wreaths; but you can hang yours wherever you want. I won't come into your house and move it, I promise.}

Piece of Wood {any size & any kind}. I actually used an old wood clock.

Red & White Paint

Crackle Paint

Knit Fabric {knit doesn't fray, so it works perfectly} or Ribbon

Glue Gun

Thick Ribbon to use as your Hanger

First, I painted my board Red, and let it completely dry. I then painted the board white, and then added a layer of the Crackle Paint.

*If you know any amazing crackle tips, please share because mine barely crackled. It did however add an awesome SHINE on the whole wood*

Next, I made my fabric rosettes. All I did was cut 1 inch wide strips into 3 or 4 varying lengths.

How do you make the Rosettes? Take your 1 inch strip and tie a knot in the end of the strip and start wrapping and hot gluing around the knot. Hot glue the whole way around until it is fully wrapped.

Now the tricky-yet fun part-draw a heart in pencil lightly on your white board. Arrange your rosettes all around the inside of your heart and over the pencil line by an inch to hide it under the rosettes. Tuck under, over, and all around so no one can tell where you started and ended. The hardest part of this is probably gluing the rosettes down. Figure out how to get to your bottom most heart and glue it down without messing up the rest of the hearts; and then proceed to glue the rest of the rosettes down. I found that if I glued the center really well, I could still tuck other rosettes under the edge of the one already glued.

Pretty pretty!!

Now the hanger....I took this ribbon off an old Valentine wreath I didn't want anymore; braided 3 pieces together, and then hot glued the ends to the back of the board.

Now the lettering.... You can use vinyl, but like Trinity, I wanted a hand painted look.

I printed out the saying in a font that I liked, and on the backside of the paper, I used a pencil to shade in the letters. I then flipped it right side up, laid the paper on my board, and started tracing the letters with a pen {making sure to push really hard, giving an indent for trapping paint later}.

Then, I got to painting my letters {all while chatting w/ Emily & Whitney as they worked on their projects late into a Tuesday Night}.

Then I took some sand paper and scuffed up the sides.

"There is no instinct like that of the heart!! "

*Yep, I missed the 2nd N in instinct... I knew it looked weird.. well I will either fix it or just read it the right way every time i look at it! *